1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic instrument for monitoring and controlling consumer electrical power consumption.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known, in recent times considerable emphasis has been placed on energy conservation due to fuel shortages and the increased cost of fuels. However, in order to realistically control the amount of energy consumption, a consumer must first be in a position to determine the consumption of various energy consuming devices in order to determine which of these devices are high energy consumers, such that the consumption of these devices can be closely monitored and controlled.
Heretofore various instruments have been provided for monitoring domestic or commercial power consumption. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,010,047 to Green discloses a portable watt-hour meter which is inserted in series with the power line to a monitor device, and displays the energy consumed by this device.
Another energy consumption indicator, U.S. Pat. No. 1,704,520 to Sommer, indicates if and when a monitor device exceeds a predetermined level during a prescribed fifteen minute time interval. In the event that power consumption is not curtailed within a time period during excessive demand, the Sommer indicator includes provisions for automatically shutting off power to the device, and also includes a lamp indicator for signalling excess energy consumption during the predetermined time interval.
Yet another electric power consumption monitoring device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,980 to Baggott, which monitors and displays the total energy consumed during a predetermined repeating integrating period (e.g. one-half hour). The power consumption of Baggott resets to zero at the end of the integrating period while an additional display records the highest power consumption reading registered for an integrating period during a billing period, typically a month.
While the above described prior art power consumption monitoring devices are quite helpful for the purpose of ascertaining gross power consumption and peak power consumption, these devices provide little if any information with regard to the rate of the power consumption. Furthermore, it appears that the prior art devices have no provisions for establishing power consumption targets or goals by which a consumer can effectively manage the consumption of electricity in the household or business. As a result, a need has been felt to provide an improved apparatus for monitoring and controlling electrical power consumption whereby the consumer can establish consumption target rates, and take immediate action based on present performance relative to the established target.